Franklin Forward represents our comprehensive long-range facility planning initiative, a collaborative effort involving the School Board and district leaders over the past year. This initiative serves as a natural extension of our existing Coherence Plan, outlining the strategic vision for the district.

The primary focus of Franklin Forward is to map out the next 20 years, ensuring that Franklin Public Schools (FPS) maintains a high standard of academic excellence alongside facilities that align with the evolving needs of our learners. Emphasizing safety, spatial considerations, and sustainability, this initiative considers the maintenance requirements of our facilities, anticipated community growth, and our commitment to providing a quality education.

Franklin Forward allows us to present recommendations for long-range facility planning, seeking community input to determine the best course of action for the future of FPS. It's a crucial step as we strive to plan effectively, considering the dynamic landscape of our community and the educational standards we aim to uphold.

The following are brief explanations of the work involved with Franklin Forward and links to some of the specific presentations that were shared with the FPS School Board during the fall of 2023.

Through the assessment of our current facilities and needs, we have identified and prioritized districtwide maintenance over the next 10 years across our facilities.

• For more specifics on those costs and needs, you can view these slides that were part of a presentation to the FPS School Board on August 16, 2023.

In addition, when assessing the educational suitability of our elementary spaces, our schools are not consistent with the offerings from school to school in regards to collaborative spaces, classroom experiences, small group/intervention spaces, areas for Special Education, outdoor spaces, and community areas.  One of the guiding principles of Franklin Forward is to make sure every student attending Franklin Public Schools is able to have the same experience, no matter which elementary school is their home school.   

• For more specifics on the educational suitability of our elementary buildings, you can view these slides that were part of a presentation to the FPS School Board on October 25, 2023. 

When assessing Franklin High School, many factors were identified as needing improvement or updates since the building was originally opened in 1962.  

• For more specifics on the Franklin High School needs, you can view these slides that were part of a presentation to the FPS School Board on November 8, 2023.

Since early 2023, we have been working to assess our facilities to put together costs and estimates for the maintenance needed in our facilities for approximately the next 20 years (until roughly 2040). 

• August-December 2023 - FPS School Board presentations to share information about maintenance needs, population studies, educational suitability and needs of our current facilities, and recommendations.
• February 2024 - Community Engagement Sessions took place to present information and recommendations to the community.  
• March 2024 - Information, including video of the Community Engagement Session, FAQ’s, and other details are shared and updated on our web page at www.franklin.k12.wi.us/franklinforward 
• April 2024 - Community survey sent to all district families by mail to inform about Franklin Forward planning and seek feedback on the level of support from community members.  
• May/June 2024 - Survey results shared with FPS School Board to discuss and plan for next steps.
• June 2024 - FPS School Board determines resolution on next steps for Franklin Forward

(to see this image larger, please click on it to view the slide from the presentation)

As shared in the timeline above from our Community Engagement Session presentations (this slide), Franklin Public Schools began as a K-8, one school district (the original Ben Franklin Elementary) in 1951.  In 1957, we merged with Country Dale and Willow Edge districts, and continued to utilize Country Dale as a school.  During the 1960’s, we opened Franklin High School (1961) to become a K-12 district, and added Pleasant View Elementary (1964) and Robinwood Elementary (1968) due to rapid enrollment growth. In 1970, we opened the original (now non-existing) Forest Park Middle School.  The 1990’s was also a period of growth for the Franklin community with additions and renovations to the existing facilities, the creation of the ECC District Office, the opening of Southwood Glen Elementary (1992), and the opening of the new Ben Franklin Elementary (1999).  

Community support in 2012 ($33M referendum) helped us to renovate roughly 23% of Franklin High School to provide updated math/science spaces and allowed for the creation of the Saber Center for the Performing Arts (2013).  The community supported FPS in 2016 ($43M referendum) to create a new Forest Park Middle School so we could redesign the learning environment and include 6th graders back in the middle school setting.  

Throughout this time, we have continued routine maintenance for our facilities and updates.  However, many of the systems that help our buildings to function are becoming quite dated and we need to perform updates that fall outside the regular scope of our yearly operational budget.  In addition, roughly 70% of the classrooms and spaces at the high school are original to the building that was built in the early 1960’s and need to be expanded, renovated or rebuilt. 

The Community Engagement Sessions explaining the original $185M proposal concluded in late February.  We recorded one of the sessions and you can view that video here along with the slides from the presentation here. 

Aside from watching the presentation, our Franklin Forward webpage (here) houses all presentations that have been given to the FPS School Board, along with links to the videos of each board meeting.  

We partnered with MD Roffers out of Madison for a population study to help inform our decision making and planning. Fun fact: Mark Roffers is an FPS alum!  

• This is where the growth projections slides begin from the August 2023 presentation (slide 37)
• This is the video from the August 16, 2023 Board Meeting (Roffers presentation begins at 1:43:00)

Of note to our planning: the residential area that currently feeds into Country Dale (southwest corner of Franklin) will see the most growth over the next 15-20 years resulting in maximizing out the allotted space we have for students.  While Franklin High School will not “hit the red” for some time, we are already “in the yellow” and experiencing capacity issues in some of our spaces where we need to expand.  

When reviewing the MD Roffers study (slides here | video here, go to 1:43:00), a question we explored was, “would simply shifting elementary school boundaries help equalize the numbers at each school?”  

If we were to shift boundaries now, this would only be a short-term fix due to the expected growth in the southwest area of Franklin.  Additionally, the facility needs at Country Dale Elementary are pretty major.  Even if we shifted boundaries in the short term, we would still need to replace the current Country Dale Elementary to meet the needs of our school district.

Redistricting is a very complex piece of this future planning puzzle and we want to avoid having to adjust boundaries more than once.  Over the next twenty years, we hope to only have to adjust boundaries once.  

We understand the impact shifting elementary boundaries may have on families.  As shared in a previous question, we hope to only have to do this once in the next twenty years and the FPS School Board has currently decided not to explore this option. The need of a newer and updated facility is greater than the need to shift attendance boundaries at this time.

Franklin Public Schools continues to maintain and extend the life of many facilities systems such as mechanicals and roofing systems through a preventative maintenance program. Many facilities systems are inspected weekly, monthly, semi-annually or annually by our Buildings & Grounds Team and/or contracted partners to identify and resolve issues.

The District also budgets approximately $1.2 million annually to complete Capital Maintenance projects such as replacing failing roofs, mechanical, plumbing, fire and asphalt/concrete systems. The district has committed these funds for some time, however, the $1.2 million completes nowhere near the projects it used to cover due to inflationary costs associated with these types of projects. 

The District also maintains a Fund 46 account where the Department of Public Instruction allows school boards with an approved long-term capital improvement plan (minimum of 10 years) to establish a "trust" that is funded with a transfer from the general fund. These funds assist FPS with completing additional capital maintenance projects highlighted above.

Many of the major facility systems in the district are coming due based on life expectancy, functionality, and dependability at the same time. Some systems, such as Mechanical Systems, are no longer supported by their manufacturers and new parts are now obsolete and difficult to find. Due to rising costs and aging systems, the District needs additional funds to keep our facilities functioning at their best.

During the month of June at both the June 12th Board Workshop and the June 19th Board Meeting, the FPS School Board reviewed and discussed the data collected from the April 2024 School Perceptions Survey to best plan for the next steps of Franklin Forward.  

• You can view details from the survey in this Community Survey Results Summary here.  
• In addition, this is a link to the copy of the survey report presented to the FPS School Board by School Perceptions.  

A key takeaway from the April 2024 survey, is that there is clear support for most of the proposed plan.  In listening to the voice of the community through survey data, the FPS School Board opted to focus on the specific pieces that had the highest level of support.  The long-range facility plan scope and timeline will be adjusted to re-examine where replacing Country Dale can best fit at some point in the future.  

During the June 19th Board Meeting, the Board examined the costs, scope and timeline of these projects to come to a resolution to add a referendum question on the November 2024 ballot.  This resolution reduced the overall scope of the project from the original $185 million by $40 million, to an adjusted $145 million project.  

The question (shown below), was voted on and approved by the Board and will be presented to voters on the November 5th ballot.

Shall the Franklin Public School District, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin be authorized to issue pursuant to Chapter 67 of the Wisconsin Statutes, general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $145,000,000 for the public purpose of paying the cost of  a school facility improvement project consisting of:  Americans with Disabilities Act compliance updates, capital maintenance, building systems, safety, security and site improvements at the Elementary Schools and Franklin High School; construction of additions and renovations at Franklin High School, including for technical education space improvements, classroom and special education  areas, science lab improvements, new indoor physical education spaces and a field house, a pool, and  tennis courts; and acquisition of furnishings, fixtures and equipment? 

You can see the full resolution presented to and approved by the FPS School Board here.  

The FPS School Board passed a June 2024 resolution in support of pursuing $145M for the purpose of completing capital maintenance projects at the Franklin High School and the 5 Elementary Schools as well as the proposed additions and renovations at the Franklin High School 

The adjusted scope of the plan going to referendum in November 2024 now only includes these (2) projects:

The information we have shared on a broad scale about what’s being done as part of the  “Update Buildings & Grounds ($21.9M)” project has been referenced in our August 2024 Issue of The Franklin Focal Point, our October 2024 Issue of The Franklin Focal Point and on these information cards (black, gold) we have handed out at various events, and we have that information on our website here.  

As to specifics per building, we can provide the following:  Following a comprehensive study of all district buildings and facilities, projects were categorized by priority levels from high to low based on life expectancies, current failures, compliancy, life safety, etc.  The highest priority areas identified at each elementary school include ADA compliance, building shell repairs, roof replacements and repairs, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing maintenance/updates.  

Specifically, here are some real example of high priorities from the facility study that these funds would address at the elementary buildings:

• Ben Franklin: HVAC control updates, boiler plant updates and roofing updates
• Southwood Glen: Fire alarm system update, boiler plant update and building envelope repairs
• Pleasant View: Boiler plant update, asphalt replacement and address ADA issues in restrooms
• Country Dale*: HVAC updates, roofing updates, add ADA accessible 4K play structure
• Robinwood*: HVAC updates, roofing updates, ADA accessible 4K play structure replacement
• *Note that the funds allocated at Robinwood and Country Dale are intended to extend the life at each of these buildings as both buildings have significant financial needs that will need future discussion around updates/repairs vs building replacement.

In addition, some of the $21.9M is being allocated to ADA compliance, building shell repairs, roof replacement and repairs, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing maintenance/updates to areas of the High School that would not be affected by the planned larger construction project on the north side of the High School.

Please watch this 5min video that gives an overview of the needs for the Franklin High School career & technical education spaces at FHS.

1. We encourage you to watch this 4min & 22 second video that gives an overview of the needs for the Franklin High School physical education and athletic spaces.

   In addition, here are the details presented through our various presentations and within the video:

2. Franklin High School (Division 1) has a 1+ station gym, which is the size suited to a Division 4 school.  With our current status as a Division 1 school and a student population just over 1,600, we would be best equipped with a five station gym space to meet the demand of our student body and community while also being comparable to Division 1 districts across the state of WI.  Currently, we cannot hold an all-school assembly or pep-rally for all students as the maximum capacity of the current gymnasium is 1,100.  In a given class period, we have typically 90-100 students between the offered classes running simultaneously amongst our available spaces and we often have to double up, which limits individual opportunities for students.  
    

3. The multipurpose room located on the second floor was the band room until 2012 when the new band space was built by the Saber Center.  The multipurpose room has been utilized for physical education and activity space during the school day and into the late evening.  This room is long and narrow which does not allow for our cheer or dance teams to use it as an adequate practice space since they are unable to move far enough side-to-side and they cannot perform aerial throws due to the low ceiling.  This room is primarily used for aerobics, yoga, fitness and other activities that do not utilize much movement or space.  The room was not designed for physical activity, therefore, the flooring and walls are not the quality used in a gymnasium where injury protection is a priority in the construction to protect our youngest to most seasoned athletes.   

4. The weight room is 2,400 square feet of converted classroom space, which is space that was not designed for physical activity. Currently, the weight room is configured in an “L” shape, which is not efficient for space, safety or visibility.  There are floor elevation changes across the room. The courses and opportunities offered in the weight room have only experienced growth. The National Strength Conditioning Association recommends 100 square feet per athlete which would only allow us to have 24 athletes in the weight room at a time.  In most cases, this would not be enough space for an entire class or sports team, let alone combining teams.  There are always students and teachers/coaches utilizing the hallway for activities to gain space.     

5. The pool was originally built in 1974 and contains the original filtration system, original chemical feed system, an out of date lighting system, and aged mechanical systems.  This space frequently experiences freezing pipes and short term closures due to loose tiles or diving board maintenance issues.  In addition, the pool is too shallow (3’6” vs 4’ minimum), too narrow (43’6” vs 45’ minimum) and does not contain enough lanes (6 lanes vs 8 minimum) to host WIAA competitive meets.

6. Community Education & Recreation - FPS oversees the Community Education & Recreation Department for the city of Franklin.  Currently, all gym spaces in the district are utilized well into the evening for rec activities and rentals for youth sports.  Providing more gym space at the high school would help to offer more opportunities for those activities to occur and occur at times where programming can end earlier than it does currently.  

7. Providing a multi-station indoor athletic facility would provide more opportunities and space for physical and lifestyle high school classes, growing athletic teams and recreation/activities opportunities.

Please watch this 2.5min video that gives an overview of the needs for the Franklin High School culinary spaces at FHS.

While it is early in the planning process, what we do know is that, at a minimum, this road will connect to the school property and be a flow through for traffic.  This will ensure access for safety reasons, such as if fire or police need access.  This road will wrap around the south side of the school and connect to the front parking lot.  We are aware the addition of this road is through a neighborhood and will be cognizant of this as planning takes place and will communicate with the neighbors as plans are more formulated.  In addition, as part of our planning process, we will be engaging in a complete site traffic study to help determine impacts and use those findings as part of the decision making process. 

The Wisconsin School Public Relations Association (WSPRA) and Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials partnered to provide the video below that is an overview of how Wisconsin school funding works (or click here)

Public school districts are allowed to use a maximum time frame of 20 years for issuing a bond.  The planning used throughout this project is using the estimated $145 million amount and a 20 year bond issue time frame.  We work with Ehlers, Inc as our financial advisor.  They use these parameters, and the current and projected bond market to help determine the total financial impact and yearly financial impact.

Over the course of the last decade, the district has defeased debt multiple times.  Defeasing debt is prepaying principal, similar to prepaying a personal mortgage.  These defeasance payments (prepaying principal) has saved the district over $4 million in interest payments over the last 2 years alone.  In addition to saving interest payments, defeasing debt helps Franklin Public Schools to maintain a strong bond rating, similar to a personal credit score.  It is also important to note that any funds made available for defeasement of debt are only eligible to be used for defeasing debt.

The following shows the recent historical movement of the Mill Rate and how the passing of the Nov 5, 2024 Referendum would impact the current Mill Rate.  The expected impact would be an increase of $0.82 to the Mill Rate.  

The following contains estimates based on a 5% bond rate over 20 year borrowing (Ehlers, Inc.)

Of course! Our partners at Ehlers have created a tax impact calculator based on the fair market value of your home. You can head to their site here or click on the image below to access (note that you have to scroll down their page to view it).

This graph of the 2023-2024 mill rates for districts in Milwaukee County was provided at the annual meeting this past August, 2024. 

• The districts with a green bar passed an operating referendum in April, 2024. 
• The districts with a yellow bar have a capital referendum question on the November, 2024 ballot. 
• The districts with an orange bar have both an operating and capital referendum on the November, 2024 ballot. 

Since the time of the data was gathered for this graph, Glendale-River Hills & Maple Dale-Indian Hill have added an operational referendum.

Districts with a passed April referendum or will pass their upcoming referendums will see adjustments to their levy rates.

See Updated Successful Referendum Mill Rate Highlighted Below

The most up to date preliminary numbers that will be presented to the school board on October 9, 2024 will show a mill rate of $8.65 if the referendum is successful and $7.85 if the referendum is not successful.  These remain preliminary until the State of Wisconsin finalizes their equalization aid amount to school districts on October 15, 2024.  

This additional graph was a follow up to the annual meeting and consists mostly of Waukesha schools with the addition of Burlington (Racine County) that was added at the request of the petitioner.

Of these districts, Mukwonago has a capital referendum on the November, 2024 ballot which will impact its levy rate if it is successful.  

Currently, the district is paying on 2 outstanding bond issues.  

• Bond issue #1 has $13,100,000 outstanding in principal and is related to the high school referendum project from 2012, with a current end date of 2033 and is tracking at being paid off 4 years earlier than originally planned due to refinancing.  
• Bond issue #2 has $23,970,000 outstanding in principal and is related to the new Forest Park Middle School project from the 2016 referendum, with a current end date of 2036.  

The district continues to be fiscally responsible with managing the funds afforded for past projects and works to pay down prior debt as economically as possible.  Over the past 10 years, FPS has refinanced or defeased on long-term debt saving taxpayers approximately $6.3 million dollars in interest.  FPS reviews opportunities to refinance regularly and is tracking ahead of payback schedules.  This adherence to fiscal management of debt helps with the current $145M Referendum in that the district can take on $85M of that debt at no additional property tax increase to residents.  The remaining $60M is what taxpayers are helping to support at $0.82 per $1,000 valuation of property/home as the tax table shows.

The total amount of taxes levied by the Franklin Public Schools is determined by the district's Board of Education on an annual basis, and is completely independent of the overall assessment.  Franklin Public Schools has worked to maintain this responsible tax rate on a yearly basis.  The table below indicates the district's recent mill rate history.

Community members are encouraged to utilize the Franklin Forward referendum tax calculator to determine their respective tax impact due to the referendum.  A link to the tax calculator can be found here.

The revaluation of personal real estate property is conducted by the City of Franklin's City Assessor's Office.  The revaluation redistributes the existing property tax burden so that all property owners pay their fair share based on the market value of their property.  As tax levies are established annually by the different taxing authorities, your specific tax impact will be determined through a combination of the City of Franklin's City Assessors' determination of value and the individual taxing authorities' mill rates.  An increase in your assessment may not result in an increase in your property taxes overall.  More information on the tax levy is available on the City of Franklin website here.

Our Buildings and Grounds Director along with staff feedback and our partners at PRA and CD Smith, conducted a comprehensive facility study that identified almost $12 million dollars worth of facility related needs at Country Dale in the next 10 years. These needs include the roofing, exterior building envelope such as tuckpointing, windows and doors, mechanicals, electrical and plumbing as well as some ADA compliance and life safety issues. 

Additionally, FPS worked with district staff and our partners at PRA and CD Smith to identify the educational suitability of Country Dale and found that over 70% of Country Dale is in adequate based on the following: 

• Unavailability of collaborative and breakout spaces
• Properly sized 4K/5K & Core Curriculum Classrooms
• Unavailability of small group and intervention spaces
• Lack of proper Special Education spaces
• Community Function (Commons / Physical Education / Community Room)
• Inadequate outdoor spaces (bus / parent pick-up & drop-off / playgrounds)

To renovate and add on to the current footprint of Country Dale to bring its adequacy to a level equal to that of a modern elementary school and complete the maintenance identified in the Facility Study it would cost over $31 million dollars. 

The current Country Dale building originated in the early 1950’s and has been added on to on multiple occasions over the last 70 years.  There is not enough space to build a new facility on this site while the current facility is in use.  If we were to explore expanding the current Country Dale for a sixth time, the age of the building and current building issues are of high concern.  

The land that Country Dale sits on is landlocked by homes, business and a highway. If an expansion project were to occur at the current Country Dale site, there would be disruptions to student learning.  Additionally, the current Country Dale location experiences parking issues and there have been concerns expressed by the city about traffic in this area during peak times.  If construction were to occur on this site, those problems would be magnified during construction as there would be issues for safe bus and parent drop off and pick up. 

Country Dale was built in the early 1950’s for educational models that worked well at the time.  Learning looks different now for our students as there is more collaboration occurring and not just sit-and-get type learning. We hold a high level of standards for our students and need to create the environments for our staff to best accomplish teaching and learning.  Aside from learning content, students also need to be able to build on soft skills that will help them in their post-secondary endeavors.  In addition, modernizing our facilities can also help to attract staff and help with teacher retention.  

In 2020, the district purchased 220 acres of land in the south area of Franklin for future district growth.  This purchase from the Archdiocese came about as an opportunity for the distinct to secure land for future needs as a single contiguous and versatile property that was centrally located.  The thought at the time was to secure land for needs such as replacing existing elementary building(s), a possible second middle school depending on community growth or an additional high school.  

As part of Franklin Forward work, the district reviewed past survey data where the community was asked about the feasibility of adding a second high school.  The results from the survey leaned in favor of NOT adding a second high school. In addition, based on our most recent population studies from MD Roffers, the Franklin community is not in need of a second high school through 2040.

The 220 acres can hold more than one school facility in the future if needed.

With anticipated future growth in the southwest corner of Franklin, this location is more central to where families and students will have to travel, which would help spread out and build better efficiencies for travel time to our schools.  Additionally, this space allows us to build more outdoor fields and to create pick-up and drop-off loops without affecting neighborhood traffic congestion.  

Construction of a new building on this land would not impact current student learning during construction and we would not have to shift students temporarily to other locations while construction would occur.  

Currently, we are working with a commercial broker to get valuation for the building and land. If the district moves forward with building a new elementary school on the district land off of Ryan Road, the district will investigate options for what to do with the current site. This could range from razing the building, maintaining the site as green space, or selling the land.  The current Franklin Forward recommendations do include the costs for razing (i.e. demolishing) the building.